Tag Archives: david cameron

Alex Foster

What Mrs Cameron actually wore

By Alex Foster | Mon 19th October 2009 - 11:39 am

At the Tory conference, a few acres of of newsprint were dedicated to what the Tory leader’s wife wore. Apparently, it was a £65 dress from M&S, which she paired with some £29 shoes from Zara.

Goodness me. Who cares? I mean, you expect people in the public eye in receipt of a pretty decent wage to be turned out nicely. And on occasions such as this where you know people will be taking pictures and you can be pretty certain your photo will show up in prominent places in national newspapers, it’s entirely acceptable to make sure you’re wearing …

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Alex Foster

A little Sunday fun

By Alex Foster | Sun 18th October 2009 - 2:20 pm

Here’s a little something that found its way into my inbox in recent days.

During conference season, a friend of mine heard something in the tone of the Leader of the Conservatives that reminded him of the leader of… something else entirely. The rising inflection. The increasingly manic tone. The stilted rhetoric and the faux outrage.

I think there are questions to be answered.

Is David Cameron secretly Davros?

Posted in Humour | Also tagged and | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick to pay back £910 #mpsexpenses

By Stephen Tall | Mon 12th October 2009 - 4:32 pm

The party has just released the text of the letter from Nick Clegg to Sir Thomas Legg confirming that the Lib Dem leader will – as recommended by Sir Thomas – re-pay £910 of taxpayers’ money claimed as expenses for gardening costs associated with Nick’s second home. Here’s the text of the letter:

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Bill le Breton

Opinion: If you go down to the woods today…

By Bill le Breton | Sat 10th October 2009 - 6:20 pm

At the end of the thread to my last offering there was an invitation from Mark Wright to comment on whether I still thought our conference was a disaster. Yes, I do Mark; I know it was; day by day I grow more and more certain.

My case was never based on poll performance (especially during the conference season) and Sunday’s new ComRes poll with its CON 40% (+2), LAB 28% (+5), LDEM 19% (-4) figures should remind us why. No, for me the evaluation was always to do with lost opportunities. May I try to explain my reasoning?

Back in the …

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Mark Pack

David Cameron’s speech: Danny Alexander responds

By Mark Pack | Thu 8th October 2009 - 10:35 pm

Here’s what Danny has to say (and interesting to note that he’s being deployed as the Lib Dem person to attack the other parties, not Nick Clegg or Vince Cable):

This speech demonstrates the huge gulf between the sunny rhetoric of David Cameron and the grim reality of Tory policy.

The Tories claim to be honest on spending, but their proposals barely scratch the surface.

They claim they can fix the country’s finances, but their plans are economically illiterate. Cutting spending now would plunge us back into recession.

They claim to care about the poorest, but will only slash taxes for millionaires.

They expect to have the keys to Downing Street handed to them, but at a time of crisis they have the wrong solutions and the wrong priorities.

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Stephen Tall

Lib Dems choose Dawn to take on Dave in Witney

By Stephen Tall | Mon 5th October 2009 - 6:15 pm

David Cameron’s local paper, the Witney Gazette, has the story:

THE Liberal Democrat candidate to take on Witney MP David Cameron in the next General Election has been announced. Dawn Barnes will stand for Witney against the Conservative leader in May or June next year. …

Miss Barnes, 32, said: “I was really happy, and a little surprised, to be confirmed as the Liberal Democrat candidate to stand against a man who is widely-tipped to be the next Prime Minister.

“However, it’s a real honour, and I’ll be working hard with the local party and friends and family in West Oxfordshire

…

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Stephen Tall

Cameron tested by the choppy waters of welfare, Lisbon and Marr

By Stephen Tall | Sun 4th October 2009 - 3:45 pm

At the start of his party’s conference in Manchester, Tory leader David Cameron has announced plans “to get Britain working again” – but his comments have drawn a sharp response from the Lib Dems’ shadow work and pensions secretary Steve Webb:

This is yet more Tory posturing. Much of what David Cameron is proposing – such as reviewing people on incapacity benefit – is happening already.

“But the central assumption – that unemployment is simply about the workshy not applying for jobs – is ridiculous in the middle of a global recession. There are parts of the country now where there are already 100 people applying for every vacancy. So forcing more single parents and people with health problems to apply for the same jobs is far more about posturing than about tackling unemployment.”

Mr Cameron is having a tough 24 hours. First, he is having to defend his party’s precarious position on Europe, refusing to say what the party’s policy will be when the Lisbon treaty is ratified (other than he “will not let matters rest”, whatever that means).

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Mark Pack

Daily View 2×2: 4 October 2009

By Mark Pack | Sun 4th October 2009 - 7:00 am

It’s Sunday. It’s 7am. It’s time for the Daily View, today with an election night special.

2 Big Stories

David Cameron stalls on Europe

David Cameron bravely stuck his neck out by, er…, insisting that the Tories “could only have one policy at once”. Not multitaskers then:

David Cameron has refused to give an unequivocal commitment to a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, after Irish voters delivered a 67% “Yes” vote.

The Tory leader promised a vote on the treaty should his party win the election – but only if it had not been ratified by all EU member states.

He said the Tories “could only have one policy at once”, and he did not want to prejudice decisions in other countries. (BBC)

Report says Iran has data to make atom bomb

A confidential analysis by staff of the U.N. nuclear watchdog has concluded that Iran has acquired “sufficient information to be able to design and produce” an atom bomb. (Reuters)

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

Sunday Bonus

Now this is how election night coverage should be done:

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Posted in Daily View and Europe / International | Also tagged | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick welcomes Ireland’s Lisbon yes vote, says Tories are “embarrassing themselves”

By Stephen Tall | Sat 3rd October 2009 - 5:25 pm

Ireland’s yes to the Lisbon Treaty was emphatic (albeit at the second time of asking): 67% voted to approve it, with just two of the 43 constituencies rejecting it, on an icnreased turnout of 58%.

Nick Clegg was quick to welcome the result – and to note the awkward situation David Cameron now finds himself in:

This result finally puts to rest years of wrangling over Europe’s future and paves the way for a stronger and more democratic European Union.

“The worst thing would be to re-open this self-indulgent debate. David Cameron should now finally accept the treaty as a fact of life instead of plotting with Eastern European nations to have it blocked. The Conservatives are already embarrassing themselves and Britain with their petulant impotence on Europe.

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Stephen Tall

The leaders’ debate – is it really now game on?

By Stephen Tall | Fri 2nd October 2009 - 6:40 pm

Fair play to Sky News. It’s a month since the broadcaster upped the ante on a leaders’ debate, with Adam Boulton launching a full-throated campaign – including writing for LDV – for Nick Clegg, Gordon Brown and David Cameron to debate each other in the lead-up to general election day.

The result? The AP tells us a deal has now been reached between the broadcasters:

Broadcasters have written to Britain’s main political parties proposing a series of televised debates before the general election. The BBC, Sky News television, and ITV have written to the leaders of the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties with a joint proposal for three live televised debates before the election, which must be called by the middle of next year.

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Richard Huzzey

Rumours suggest Brown will accept debates, but seek to exclude Clegg

By Richard Huzzey | Mon 28th September 2009 - 10:23 pm

The BBC reports that Gordon Brown will accept the proposals, forcibly proposed by Sky’s Adam Boulton, for a leaders’ debate… but with only partial involvement for Nick Clegg:

Months ago, Conservative leader Mr Cameron called for a TV election debate to be held involving Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg as well.

Sources suggest Mr Brown would rather go “head to head” with the Tory leader and is prepared to take part in a series of debates – some involving Mr Clegg and others not – in order to allow this to happen.

This seems to be yet another gaffe by Brown. …

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Mark Pack

Daily View 2×2: 20 September 2009

By Mark Pack | Sun 20th September 2009 - 7:00 am

It’s Sunday. It’s 7am. It’s time for the Daily View, today with a special Trojan Horse supplement.

2 Big Stories

Obama attempts to revive Middle East peace efforts

So reports the BBC:

Mr Obama will first hold separate talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the White House says.

The three men, who will be in New York for the UN General Assembly, will then hold joint discussions.

The move comes after US envoy George Mitchell’s latest round of shuttle diplomacy ended without agreement.

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Danny Alexander MP

The Tories are not a progressive party

By Danny Alexander MP | Fri 18th September 2009 - 8:56 pm

It’s little wonder Eric Pickles is trying to persuade Liberal Democrats to vote for him; we’ve been winning council seats off the Conservatives in his constituency and he’s obviously rattled.

The Tory Chairman says liberal democracy is “part of the Conservative family”, but I’m certain I’m no part of his family. His flawed view of history is matched only by his arrogance in assuming that he’s got the General Election in the bag and can now order people to vote for him.

Let’s remember, the Conservatives are the party that opposed social welfare in 1909 and the creation of the NHS forty …

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Stephen Tall

It’s not Britain that’s illiberal, Martin – it’s our political culture

By Stephen Tall | Sat 12th September 2009 - 1:55 pm

Was The Guardian’s Martin Kettle right yesterday to argue, as per his article’s headline, The biggest problem for the Liberal Democrats is illiberal Britain. It was a long, thoughtful piece – and, hey, it’s much better to be talked about than not, especially if you’re a Lib Dem – but, still, it was at best a partial explanation.

Let’s start with the positive stuff. First of all, Mr Kettle acknowledges the various ways in which the party has “been right on so many issues”:

By so many yardsticks, the Lib Dems deserve to be higher in the polls than they are. Michael Meadowcroft, intermittent party loyalist and former MP for Leeds West, listed several of them in a typically forceful Guardian letter today: the economy, Europe, ID cards, Iraq and localism. On all of them, as he says, the Lib Dems have been consistently right. One can add others to the list that Meadowcroft omitted: climate change, police powers, tax, electoral reform. All big subjects on which the Lib Dems have been right most of the time in ways that put the other parties to shame.

Couldn’t have put it better myself. But then there’s the problem of the current opinion polls: the Lib Dems have been tracking in the high-teens, occasionally breaking the 20% barrier.

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Mark Pack

Will there be a cull of ministers after the next general election?

By Mark Pack | Thu 10th September 2009 - 8:55 am

Whoever wins the next general election, they will have to make some tough choices about public  spending. Will they dare look very close to home though?

In late 1914 when Britain ruled much of the world and was fighting a world war, there were a total of 49 ministers. Gordon Brown’s government currently has 119 ministers – an increase of 143%.

Some of the growth is for reasons most people across most parties would support, such as the creation of the National Health Service resulting in the creation of some new roles. But those areas of ‘consensus growth’ are relatively small, and …

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Stephen Tall

Bagehot praises Nick’s Afghan policy

By Stephen Tall | Wed 9th September 2009 - 7:33 pm

Bagehot, the pseudonym of The Economist’s British politics columnist/blogger, has written a post sticking up for Nick Clegg following criticism aimed at him from both left (in the shape of The Observer’s Andrew Rawnsley) and right (James Forsyth in The Spectator):

Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, has been unfairly treated for saying in public what a large number of other people are confiding in private. … the doubts Mr Clegg has expressed about the strategy, resources and prospects of the Afghan campaign are shared by many others.

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Alex Foster

David’s paucity of ambition

By Alex Foster | Tue 8th September 2009 - 2:06 pm

David Cameron is talking this lunchtime, the news tells us, of his plans to reform Parliament by removing subsidised meals and shaving 5% off the pay of ministers.

Danny Alexander MP, Chief of Staff to the Leader of the Liberal Democrats is a) unimpressed and b) unfamiliar with the concept of run-on sentences:

There is a good argument to be made for cutting the cost of politics, the Liberal Democrats have proposed reducing the number of MPs by 150, but if the Conservatives seriously hope to convince people they are fit to govern it is time they stopped dodging

…

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Alex Foster

“Taxpayers don’t want Web 2.0!”

By Alex Foster | Thu 3rd September 2009 - 5:03 pm

So runs the rather foolish quote from the Taxpayers’ Alliance in a story from the Daily Express expressing outrage at a job ad for a Director of Digital Engagement.

The Government should have better things to spend money on than a pointless deputy Twittercrat. The public sector as a whole should be tightening its belt during times of economic hardship, and this job would be a scandalous waste even during good economic times.

Taxpayers don’t want more Web2.0. They want an end to wasteful spending.

Neither the TPA nor the Conservative Party can see the point, instead frothing at the mouth …

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Mark Pack

TV leaders debate set to happen: if Sky keeps its nerve

By Mark Pack | Wed 2nd September 2009 - 9:19 am

I’ve always wondered why the media don’t call the bluff of party leaders when it comes to holding leaders debate at general election time.

Many in the media regularly and sincerely go on the record about believing such debates would be good for democracy, but in the past they’ve always held back from the idea that a debate could go ahead without all the relevant party leaders first agreeing.

That’s a view that has puzzled me because – particularly since the law was changed a few years ago – there are pretty strong legal grounds for being able to hold a debate, …

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Stephen Tall

Daily View 2×2: 30 August 2009

By Stephen Tall | Sun 30th August 2009 - 12:05 pm

2 Big Stories


Sunday Times: Lockerbie bomber ‘set free for oil’

Today’s Times has the big story:

The British government decided it was “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom” to make Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, eligible for return to Libya, leaked ministerial letters reveal. Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards.

The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who has been widely criticised for taking the formal decision to permit Megrahi’s release. The correspondence makes it plain that the key decision to include Megrahi in a deal with Libya to allow prisoners to return home was, in fact, taken in London for British national interests.

The Lib Dems Ed Davey – who has been leading the campaign for full disclosure over Mr Al Megrahi’s release – is quoted by the paper:

This is the strongest evidence yet that the British government has been involved for a long time in talks over al-Megrahi in which commercial considerations have been central to their thinking.”

Brown’s surprise Afghanistan trip scuppers Cameron

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Mark Pack

MPs on Facebook: leading the way or forgetting to change the defaults?

By Mark Pack | Tue 25th August 2009 - 2:20 pm

Cross-posted from The Wardman Wire:

A new studyof MPs on Facebook shows widespread use of the social network by Parliamentarians, but also a range of curious choices about how to use the medium which may in part reflect a failure to change default settings.

The study, carried out by Woodnewton Associates and based on evidence gathered in May this year, found that:

  • 26% of MPs have a Facebook presence (a page or profile).
  • Liberal Democrat MPs lead the way in Facebook usage, with 65% being on Facebook. 25% of Labour MPs and 21% of Conservative MPs are on Facebook.

Whilst a static presence in …

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Stephen Tall

Film censorship “in chaos”, says Foster

By Stephen Tall | Tue 25th August 2009 - 9:05 am

As the BBC reports:

Retailers who sell violent video games and 18-rated DVDs to children cannot be prosecuted because of a legal blunder 25 years ago. Dozens of prosecutions under a 1984 Act have been dropped because the government of the day failed to notify the European Commission about the law. But previous prosecutions will stand, according to the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS).

Lib Dem shadow culture, media and sport secretary Don Foster was quick to react to the news:

The Conservative’s incompetence when they were in Government has made laws designed to prevent video piracy and protect

…

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Mark Pack

The Political Parties and Elections Act 2009: changes to election expenditure rules

By Mark Pack | Tue 11th August 2009 - 2:50 pm

Cross-posted from The Wardman Wire:

Hands up everyone who thought the problem with current rules for controlling constituency expenditure was that they work if a Parliament last for four years but not if it lasts for five? Nobody? Oh well, that’s the basis on which Parliament has just changed the law anyway.

This provision of the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 has its roots in a sensible concern, but along the way disagreements between parties and lack of understanding of how campaigns actually operate has landed us with this rather odd change in the law.

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Stephen Tall

A look back at the polls: July ‘09

By Stephen Tall | Sat 1st August 2009 - 2:30 pm

We tend not to be too poll-obsessed here at LDV – of course we look at them, as do all other politico-geeks, but viewed in isolation no one poll will tell you very much beyond what you want to read into it. Looked at over a reasonable time-span and, if there are enough polls, you can see some trends.

Here, in chronological order, are the results of the nine polls published in July:

Tories 39%, Labour 26%, Lib Dems 19% – YouGov/Fabians (unpublished, 1st July)
Tories 41%, Labour 27%, Lib Dems 20% – ICM/Guardian (14th July)
Tories 42%, Labour 25%, Lib Dems 18% – YouGov/S. Times (18th July)
Tories 38%, Labour 23%, Lib Dems 22% – ComRes/S. Independent (19th July)
Tories 38%, Labour 26%, Lib Dems 20% – Populus/Times (21st July)
Tories 40%, Labour 24%, Lib Dems 18% – Mori (unpublished, 21st July)
Tories 40%, Labour 25%, Lib Dems 20% – YouGov/S. People (26th July)
Tories 42%, Labour 24%, Lib Dems 18% – ComRes/Independent (29th July)
Tories 41%, Labour 27%, Lib Dems 18% – YouGov/Telegraph (31st July)

Which gives us an average rating for the parties in July as follows (compared with June’s averages):

Tories 40% (+2%), Labour 25% (+2%), Lib Dems 19% (+1%)

All three main parties can take a little consolation from this month’s figures, which sees a slight recovery for each at the expense of ‘Others’ (chiefly Ukip, Greens and BNP), who were boosted by their increased exposure during the run-up to June’s local and Euro elections. However, both Labour and the Tories have yet to return to their pre-‘Expenses-gate’ support of 28% and 43% respectively.

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Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 20 July 2009

By Helen Duffett | Mon 20th July 2009 - 11:44 am

2 Big Stories

Andy Burnham on “conflicting advice” about swine flu
There’s even conflicting advice on whether “conflicting advice” is actually conflicting…
From the Guardian:

“There isn’t conflicting advice. The advice has been clear all along that women who are pregnant should take extra precautions as they would anyway – they should really follow the advice about hand hygiene, they should consider avoiding crowded places. This is the advice we have given out all the way.”

David Cameron’s ‘new look’ Tory MPs are the most extreme for a generation
From the Mirror:

David Cameron’s claim to have modernised his party is today exposed as a

…

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Helen Duffett

Chamali and Chandila Fernando join the Conservatives

By Helen Duffett | Thu 16th July 2009 - 11:16 am

The London Evening Standard has the story:

David Cameron today hailed the defection of a Liberal Democrat London mayoral hopeful to the Tories.

Barrister Chamali Fernando, 30, from Finchley, ran to be the Lib-Dem candidate for Mayor of London but was defeated by Brian Paddick in 2007.

Ms Fernando’s brother Chandila is also leaving the Lib-Dems to join the Conservatives. The 32-year-old business developer failed in his bid last year to become president of the Lib-Dems.

Mr Cameron said: “I am delighted to welcome Chamali and Chandila to the Conservative party.

“It is very pleasing that two people who have played such an

…

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Mark Pack

Daily View 2×2: 12 July 2009

By Mark Pack | Sun 12th July 2009 - 9:12 am

Welcome to the Sunday outing for The Voice’s near-daily Daily View series. As it’s a Sunday, today it comes with a special bonus singing unhappy customer.

2 Big Stories

Afghanistan: troops numbers to go up or down?

The papers are agreed that, following the tragic and symbolic news of the number of British military deaths in Afghanistan now exceeding those in Iraq, Afghanistan is one of the major news stories of the day.

But there’s rather less agreement on what they think the Government is going to do.

Either “Thousands more troops could be sent to Afghanistan within months” (Observer) or “Ministers are secretly planning to cut the number of British troops in Afghanistan” (Independent). All clear I trust.

Phone hacking: Tory MPs set to rebel?

From the Sunday Times:

Rebel Conservative MPs plan to refer Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s chief spin doctor, to the party’s sleaze watchdog over his role in the illegal phone hacking row.

Some Tory backbenchers believe Cameron took an excessively tough stance on the expenses scandal. Now they hope to exploit the row over Coulson, the former News of the World editor who resigned when the paper was caught hacking into royal aides’ phones.

Yesterday, Lord Tebbit lent his voice to the Tory rebels. “Cameron has talked a lot about ‘detoxifying’ the Conservative brand,” he said. “Perhaps he should now think about a ‘detoxification’ of his own office.”

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

Sunday Bonus

One man gets his revenge on United Airlines for bad customer service through the medium of song:

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Alex Foster

Opinion: Cameron’s vision for local government is bleak

By Alex Foster | Thu 9th July 2009 - 10:25 am

Last week’s Local Government Association conference was addressed on its final day by three representatives from Westminster who’d made the journey northwards to Harrogate to face the serried ranks of senior local government councillors and officers.

The Lib Dems were represented by Vince Cable MP, given an early morning slot that not everyone got to. He was warmly received by all those who were there, in any case, which may represent that it was just the Lib Dem LGA group present. His speech covered his history as a councillor himself in the early 1970s when local government …

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Stephen Tall

Daily View 2×2: 3 July 2009

By Stephen Tall | Fri 3rd July 2009 - 1:00 pm

2 Big Stories

Is homphobia still rife on the Tory benches?

That’s the allegation from Labour cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw:

Ben Bradshaw has said “a deep strain of homophobia still exists on the Conservative benches”. Mr Bradshaw, one of three gay men currently in the cabinet, made the comments as a new poll suggested more gay people were turning to the Tories. Chris Bryant, another gay minister, said: “If gays vote Tory they will rue the day very soon.”

For what it’s worth I suspect that equality for gay people is the one area where the Tories have genuinely changed over the years …

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Stephen Tall

Daily View 2×2: 26 June 2009

By Stephen Tall | Fri 26th June 2009 - 9:35 am

Even to suggest today there are 2 Big Stories other than The One Big Story seems a trifle daft – the news that spread late yesterday evening of the death of Michael Jackson has dominated, and will continue to dominate, news coverage this weekend. RIP the ‘King of Pop’, of course, but spare a thought, too, for Farrah Fawcett, whose death was also announced yesterday, and has been rather overshadowed. If Michael’s death can be likened to that of Princess Diana’s in August ‘97, I guess that makes Farrah the Mother Teresa of June ’09. Anyway…

2 Big Stories

BBC …

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